At the time of partition, he was not allowed to leave but somehow he managed and left for India wearing a ‘Burqa’.
The 24th January is the birthday of Hassanand Sakhawatrai Tolani, who was the Chief Engineer of Sukkur Barrage in Irrigation Department of Sindh at the time of partition in 1947.
Hassanand was born in Rohri town of Sindh on January 24, 1901 and passed away in Delhi, India on August 5, 1979. According to family tree shared by Vijay Khilnani, late Hassanand was born to Dewan Sakhawatrai Tolani and Smt. Kesar Bai.
At the time of partition, he was not allowed to leave but somehow he managed and left for India wearing a ‘Burqa’.
After partition, they initially stayed in Gondia and then moved to Delhi where Hassanand Sakhawatrai Tolani got a job in CPWD where he was in-charge of several large government housing projects like Vinay Nagar.
After retirement he joined private real estate developer and was involved in building residential colonies like Green Park in South Delhi. He also built his own family house in Green Park.
Hassanand Sakhawatrai had five sons and a daughter – Vishin, Kan, Ram, Mohan and Shyam, and daughter Shanta, who was married to Niranjan Manohardas Khilnani, and later called Chitra Khilnani, as per tradition. Smt. Chitra is mother of Vijay Khilnani, who is settled in New Delhi, and is great grandson of Dewan Kauromal Chandanmal Khilnani, hailing from Bhiria City of Sindh, and known as ‘Father of Sindhi Literature’.
Niranjan Khilnani (27 November 1922 – 14 December 2012), grandson of Dewan Kauromal Khilnani was also born in Sukkur and later migrated to India after partition. He was a historian, scholar, professional writer and commentator on Indian and International Affairs.
Khilnani was born to Manohardas Kauromal Khilnani and Smt. Amrit Devi (Ambi d/o Kundan das Keswani). He was the youngest to secure a PhD from Bombay University at age 25 in 1947. He did his post-doctoral research at Yale University. He became the youngest lecturer at Hindu College, Delhi University. In 1951 he joined the Ministry of External Affairs where he rose to the level of Director, Historical Division. He served with the Ministry of External Affairs from 1951 to 1980. He was the External Affairs Ministry’s expert on Latin America, Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal. Ravi Khilnani is elder son and Vijay Khilnani is the youngest son of Niranjan Khilnani.
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This write up is based on information shared by Delhi-based Vijay Khilnani who also shared the photo and family tree.
